Desert Storm

The morning before, this view of Monument Valley was filled with bright, candy colored hues. (See yesterday’s post.) Now, however, it is something very different. I spent a long night in my tent enduring a violent frontal system of thunder storms passing through the desert southwest. When you can barely count to “3” from the lightning flash to when you hear the thunder, you know you’re in the middle of it! The bottom of my little tent felt like a water balloon as several inches of silty runoff flowed underneath. Even so, I stayed dry and the rain turned intermittent by early morning. So of course I gathered my gear and headed out into the stormy dark to see if this morning’s light would be as interesting as yesterday’s.

It is a blustery and rainy “non-sunrise” as low storm clouds blow across the landscape, seemingly catching on and clinging to the buttes. As in the previous post, this is the East Mitten but today the mood is dramatically different. Squalls of rain and clouds driven by the storm constantly change the view, obscuring and then revealing different parts of the scene. Even as I battle to keep my gear dry, it’s a very satisfying morning to be a photographer!